Emancipation
by cafeanna
Summary: Two ex-lovers meet at the end of a battle. They leave things to rest. Birds of Prey AU [TogaDeku, TogaChako] [Complete]


**title:** Emancipation

**genre: **romance / hurt / comfort

**pairings:** past-togadeku, future-togachako

**warnings: **No Spoilers for BOP, I keep the ending scene kinda vague, but you get the idea from the trailer that it's a team-up. I just kind of dabbled this out because I've been writing a lot of NatShig, but I stumbled into my love for all Toga ships. Especially, togadeku (tho, togachako is my ShIT) but the parallels of Harley/Joker were fun for me and I like to run with those. especially since villain deku is so much fun to write and villain deku with toga by his side is unstoppable.

otherwise, enjoy, and i apologize for grammatical errors that i will notice later and WEEP over.

**8/21/20:** UPDATE: I changed my grammar! Also, I struggled with renaming Himiko as Toga (bc I thought that was her first name when I og wrote this, but Izuku has a cute nickname for her so we're keeping it, so only he calls her Himiko).

* * *

Toga is not sure how long the man had been sitting there, but when she looks up from her solo hunting trip for stray bullets, she notices the gold-tipped wings of two freshly polished shoes. Shoes that are connected to the legs, and hips, and torso of one very handsome, and newly available, Midoriya Izuku—son of All For One, the quirkless villain wonder.

"Hey Himiko."

"Izuku?" She puts her hands behind her back, her fist clenching around the handful of capsules she has already collected, least she spills the beans and derail the entire operation. The shock in her voice, however, is genuine. "What are you doing here?"

Mustafu is not _exactly _out of Izuku's territory, however. It's his mother's hometown and his cherished childhood home, but last she heard Izuku was running business in Kamino with his step-brother.

Izuku says nothing, but lifts his brows at her, a silent question asking if he _really _needs to explain, but when Toga doesn't offer any information, he makes a gesture to the partially charred building behind her. "I heard Chisaki was giving you some trouble when I was out of town. I asked Twice to come and check on you." He searches her face for any recognition, brows pinching. "Did he?"

"Oh." Toga thinks back to several hours before, when she was alone in her apartment—with an equally alone and partially naked Ochako after just getting the kid to sleep—and hearing a noise down the hall. The reaction of which, led Toga to braining one of her very good friends with a percolator, and screaming when Ochako had the bright idea of turning on a light.

She had then tucked Jin into bed on her couch. The mood and Toga's chances for a rebound, rescinded. Vigilantes were always so stingy on _who _they allied with. Ochako was no different.

But, Izuku doesn't need all those little details.

"Y'know, I've been a bit all over town this week. I think he might've had a hard time finding me." She grins to sweeten the lie, but the skin of her lip tugs a bit too taut, pulling open the cut. Izuku looks none too impressed.

He assesses her again with a critical eye. The leather of his gloves creak when he flexes his knuckles. "You alright, Ko?"

The question seems to settle the weight of the fight on her body. Fights, normally, weren't her thing. They were Izuku's. She liked quick matches, getting the drop, having the upper-hand, and done without a trace. This time, however, feels different. The pitch in adrenaline, the bruises forming along her ribs, the blood running down her arm beginning to dry. She feels exhilarated. Wild. Powerful.

Powerful like she hasn't felt in a long, long time.

Tentatively, she touches the makeshift bandage Froppy had tied off for her from her own outfit.

"Yeah, it's just a scratch, don't even worry about it."

Izuku nods, more so to himself than to her words. He does that a lot. Trust his observations over what other people say. Not that Toga can blame him, he made his career, his name, from doing just that. However, Toga can feel herself shrinking under his stare. Self-conscious of her wounds and the tender pieces of her that still belong to him.

She shifts, her sprained ankle giving a brief flash of pain, then sinking into a dull sting under her weight. She can still run if she needs to. She can still fight if she needs to. Not that she wanted to fight Izuku. She not even sure she _can _fight Izuku head-on, quirk or no.

But, she _could. _

And that's important.

Izuku crosses his arms over his chest, putting his well-developed forearms on display. His eyes are still distant, observant, flickering to the building behind her. "Well, it looks like you handled it yourself."

There is a certain amount of pride there. That twinge in his voice from when he used to praise her when they were together, for helping him, for being his girl.

It still tugs those possessive strings within her. The ones that made her go off the rails and slice up other girls who thought they could move in on her action. Ones that challenged and died for her place.

"Yeah, I did."

They look at each other a long time, neither saying anything.

He's still gorgeous. Toga doesn't think there will ever be a time when he's not.

The corner of his mouth pulls. "Look, I heard this was all because people found out we called it." He shifts uncomfortably, as he always does when talking about relationships. The nervousness never seemed quite right to a man of his stature with his suit jackets and intimidating shoulders. In the beginning, it had made Toga want to fawn over him, protect him, make things easier and handle the rest. "If you want, I can tell my boys to get the word out that if anyone touches you, they're dead."

And Toga believes it. His intentions and every action adding up to the sum of his spare affection, but it would never measure up to the love she craved from him. He could never be with her, fully with her, when so much of his mind was occupied by dreams of grandeur. But then, like magic, whenever she handled a situation on her own, he took notice.

But, that was Himiko. She handled things.

She handled things and took up the space beside his mother and fed off his divided attention for years.

In the end, she had been the one to openly declare their break up. She was the one who put a target on her back after torching the school where they met. She was the one who went toe-to-toe with Chisaki and got to beat the ever-loving shit out of that bird-beaked transphobe.

She looks back over her shoulder at the carnage and cower of the men crawling out of the funhouse, back to their homes to lick their wounds. She sees the women she has met over the past few days joining together in victory. She spots Ochako with her arms around little Eri, soothing the girl after she had unleashed her quirk, a terrifying sight that left Toga mystified and Chisaki into non-being.

Toga flashes a smile when Ochako looks up at her, exhausted but victorious. The vigilante smiles back at her, mouthing something that Toga does not quite catch, but Ochako looks cute doing it.

For the first time since the split, Toga feels over it.

"I think I'm good," Toga says, gazing sliding back to Izuku. His green eyes are curious, inquisitive as always, but a little less sparkly. "I've made some new friends. I'm starting up my own business. I think I'm good."

"Alright." He nods slowly and turns back to the shadows. She can see the rippled edges of Kurogiri's warp-gate already parting for him. He pauses then, looking back at her. "Call me if you need anything, Ko."

And although she knows it will be a dyer consequence before she calls him again, Toga nods, smiles because she can, smiles because she can survive without him and has proved it. "Thanks, Izuku."

* * *

Just something quick I whipped up!

I'm kinda thinking Toga has a different trajectory than Harley. She was emotionally neglected and even though, much of her affection is based off of intense feelings and admiration, she really did love Izuku, and Izuku reciprocated, but not in the way she needed. Thus, TogaChako. Vigilante with a vendetta and super cute? Toga says, "say less."

More TogaChako and Natshig to come in the going month as this is Shigatine Week, but also FemSlash Feb. I posted my other TogaChako "girl at the rockshow"

reviews are cherished!

-cafeanna


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